


Moving On

by SunRae5



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Turned Into a Ghost, F/M, Gen, Moving On, Non-Canonical Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 22:44:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7456762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunRae5/pseuds/SunRae5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Hermione and Draco watch their friends and family beating themselves up over their deaths even years after it has happened, they decide to do something about it to finally help their friends move on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moving On

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story just after a close family member had passed away and was contemplating how difficult it is to move on from such an event which then got me thinking as to how difficult it must be for others to watch you unable to move on and properly deal with something like that. That somehow translated into this one-shot being written. It ended up becoming slightly more philosophical at some parts than I intended it to be and somewhat morbid and tragic at others. Nonetheless, I hope that you enjoy it.

 "They're not moving on." Hermione stated rather bluntly as she stared down at her two friends standing in front of her grave. While it might have been a rather morbid thing a couple of years ago, she was completely used to it now, as was her partner floating next to her.  
  
 "I believe you said that last year too." Draco stated, sitting cross-legged in the air as the sunshine shone right through him.  
  
 "And the year before that." Came another voice and they turned to see Severus Snape joining them as he contemplated his former students standing below him. "It really is a rather pitiful display of Gryffindor loyalty." He stated with a sneer and Hermione rolled her eyes. She had gotten used to the snark of the Potions Professor over the years and she knew well enough by now that he didn't really mean it.  
  
 "You should do something against it." And with that he was gone again, disappearing in a whisp of smoke and Hermione stared after him.  
  
 "I'll never get used to that, will I?" She asked Draco who shook his head.  
  
 "Probably not." He replied and he turned back to watch the scene below as his mother arrived to stand at the grave next to Hermione's, his own.  
  
 "Your father will be released from prison next year." Hermione commented as they watched Narcissa lay down flowers at her son's grave.  She began talking to the inanimate stone and Draco wished that he could do something to ease her pain. Not only had she lost her son, her husband had been stuck into Azkaban for life right after the war. Somehow he had managed to reach an agreement with the Ministry though and in exchange for giving them the names and any information that he had on former Death Eaters, he had been granted an earlier release from the horror that was Azkaban. Draco wasn't quite sure of how to feel about that, seeing as his father hadn't exactly been a paragon of virtue throughout his life.  
  
 "Yeah, I know." He replied and watched his mother shed tears with sadness in his eyes. They decided that they had had enough of watching the people they cared for mourning for them so they floated off, settling in a tree in a children's park further in London.  
  
 Both sat in silence, as they often did these days, watching the various people pass through the park. Draco had become fascinated by Muggles (Hermione had found it morbidly hilarious that this had only happened after he had died seeing as he had stated something to that extent in one of their many arguments at school), observing the way that they interacted with one another. There were the happy families, the single parents that loved their children and the parents that seemed to see their children as a burden if their attachment to their weird technology was anything to go by (Hermione said that they were mobile telephones, primarily used for communicating with one another but Draco found it rather strange that they weren't communicating with the children sitting right in front of them instead). Then there were the single people, rushing through the park, the people that came to enjoy the nature around them, the old couples that seemed to have all the time in the world and the students and business men and women that never seemed to have time enough.  
  
 It was truly fascinating.  
  
 "I agree with Uncle Severus, we should do something against their awful melancholy." Draco stated as the sun started to set and less and less people were around. Hermione looked up in surprise.  
  
 "But how? We're not even visible." She pointed out. It wasn't that she didn't want to help them to move on, it was simply that they weren't actually able to do anything against it.  
 Ever since they had died, they had been able to move freely between the 'Afterworld' as they had dubbed it, and the real world. They weren't ghosts per se, as they weren't visible to anyone but a few stray animals and Luna (for some absurd reason the girl was actually able to see and communicate with them but it explained oh so much about her behaviour at school; Hermione did not appreciate being referred to as a Nargle though, thank you very much), but were more like spirits. It had been mightily disconcerting at first but Hermione and Draco had adapted well to the situation and were actually relatively happy for two people who weren't able to walk among the living any more.  
  
 The problem being though, that their friends weren't. Ron and Harry were unable to let her go, as was the whole Weasley family. Her parents, thankfully, didn't even know that she existed anymore and in this case that was a blessing in disguise. She knew that it would have made everything even harder for her; she did not envy Draco in that regard in the slightest. Narcissa, Pansy and Blaise still mourned for Draco, coming to the grave that had been set up in what Hermione likened to a military/fallen in battle graveyard for wizards and witches by the Ministry. There had been a lot of casualties during the war and thus someone further up in the ladder at the Ministry had decided that this should be something that they should do and thus the graveyard had been formed. It was sobering at the best of times to see how many white and lavender gravestones adorned the field.  
  
 Hermione had taken some time to wander through the many rows one day and had discovered that Lavender Brown's headstone was one row and three stones away from her own and according to the inscription, succumbed to the wounds that she had received from Greyback. And although she had never liked the girl much, she had never wished something as horrible as that onto her. And then there was Morag MacDougal, another Ravenclaw from their year that Hermione had shared several classes and had gotten along quite well with, lying four rows and eighteen stones away from her own. She hadn't even known that Morag had been fighting in the war and she felt horrible that they hadn't taken the time to know who had been helping them win the war. In retrospect, she felt horribly close-minded that she had never even considered that so many would lose their lives for Harry's cause and that she hadn't even considered that people such as Georgia Campbell, a fellow Slytherin, would lose their lives fighting for them and not the other side.  
  
 It had been a rather eye-opening walk.  
  
 However, worse was watching their close friends and family mourn over them. While they understood and appreciated that their friends were sad and devastated over their departure, they really wished that they would move on and actively rejoin the society around them, it was starting to worry the two spirits that their friends and family were so stuck in the past.  
  
 Draco and Hermione had died together, shielding Harry, Ron, Luna and Narcissa from a curse that had been flung their way. Harry and Ron had been battling one Death Eater, while Luna had been helping someone else out from underneath the rubble. Narcissa had just helped Harry and Ron as she had switched sides with Draco half-way through the battle. The curse had exploded and destroyed their magical shields, causing the walls to collapse on top of them.  
  
 Suffice to say, they hadn't survived. It had been painful and while it had been quick for Hermione, she was knocked by a piece of the wall to the head, Draco had not been so lucky. His lungs had been punctured and even now he felt that it had been a punishment of sorts for the choices he had made in life. Nonetheless, he had died soon though, only a couple of minutes after the wall had collapsed on top of them.  
  
 It had been a strange moment, they had worked together for once, sharing the same goal of protecting the ones that they cared for. Neither of them had missed the irony of the whole situation; that they had died after finally working together.  
  
 It gave a whole new meaning to "I'll only work together with you over my dead body." Irony was such a beautiful thing.  
  
 "All Hallow's Eve is coming up soon." Draco pointed out and Hermione nodded thoughtfully.  
  
 "You think we might be able to become visible?" She queried, absently watching a leaf fall through her.  
  
 "It's as good a chance as any. But we have to do something. This is getting ridiculous." He muttered, watching the last stragglers leave the park.  
  
 "We have two weeks then to figure something out." Hermione agreed and they vanished, with no one noting their absence but a small bird that trilled out in surprise when they were gone.  
  


~.~.~.~.~  


  
 "I can't believe we didn't think of this sooner." Hermione said, looking down at herself with satisfaction. They were semi-visible, sort of opaque if one were to be more accurate. They were floating a good couple of centimeteres above the ground and looked truly ghost-worthy.  
  
 It had taken a bit of magic and the strange atmosphere of All Hallow's Ever for this to even be possible and she wondered how long their manifestations would hold.  
  
 "We always thought that they would move on by themselves." Draco pointed out and straightened his shirt, trying to ignore the fact that he was still impaled on the pipe that had also punctured his lung. The large amount of dried blood wasn't helping the case either. He looked like a walking nightmare. He looked over at Hermione and once again envied that she had died from a crushed skull. Apart from some dried blood on her forehead, she only looked battle worn.  
  
 "Stop thinking about the fact that you look like a walking corpse." Hermione muttered, knowing full well what he was thinking as they had had this particular discussion several times over already.  
  
 Draco merely huffed in response.  
  
 Thankfully, they would be able to change and become whole again once they had passed on properly. He really didn't fancy floating around like this for eternity. Severus looked mostly alright again once he had passed on, the only sign of his cause of death being the snake puncture marks on his neck. He looked down at his chest and sighed. At least they would only be scars. Hermione's theory on why they could even become whole again was that it was because they were technically spirits and actually dead as opposed to having semi-corporeal forms like the ghosts back at Hogwarts.  
  
 It seemed to be the truth if everyone else they had seen pass on was anything to go by.  
  
 "Okay, let's do this then." Hermione sends him a blinding smile and he returns his own diminished version of it. The past couple of years had been strange at best, but looking back now, she wouldn't exchange them for anything (even if she would never get used to the floating part of it all). In Draco she had found the perfect partner, first as a friend, then as a romantic partner. It was strange that they had only realised how compatible they were post mortem, but hey, who was she to complain?  
  
 The next five hours were spent floating around the Ministry party, attempting to find their friends within the large crowd of people. More than one person complimented them on their 'extraordinarily realistic' costumes and they were mightily amused by that and that they all looked so horrified at seeing them there. There were of course also quite a few that mentioned how tasteless their costumes were. These were all wizards, technically at least some of them should have realised by now that they weren't wearing costumes.  
  
 "Who the hell do you think you are?" A snarl came from behind them and Hermione and Draco turned around in sync to see Harry standing there, his wand pointed at them as Ron stood next to him, his face beet red. Luna was also with them, her arm threaded through Blaise's, who was looking completely and utterly flabbergasted, and Pansy and Ginny had gone white.  
  
 Draco looked down at the pipe and sighed once more. He really, really wished that he could get rid of it soon.  
  
 Another reason for their shared amusement over the years, Pansy and Ginny had become close friends due to circumstance (they had shared a ward in St. Mungo's after the war and one could only go so long without flinging insults, followed by apologies, followed by normal conversation at one another) and Luna and Blaise were dating - they were obviously not the only ones who had gotten over the whole Gryffindor-Slytherin feud.  
  
 "And why are you dressed up like our best friends?" Harry's voice was filled with venom.  
  
 "Deceased best friends, Potter, deceased. You should come to terms with it." Draco stated rather calmly. Hermione could see that he found this rather amusing. He had never liked Harry and while he had later admitted that Harry wasn't 'all that bad', he apparently still found joy in needling him.  
  
 Blaise was scrutinising them closely now, recognising that tone and that voice, while Pansy was, ironically, looking at them as if she had seen a ghost.  
  
 "What?" Harry's wand dropped slightly lower.  
  
 "We. Are. Dead. Get over it." He turned to Hermione, "There, I said it. That should hopefully do the job."  
  
 "I don't think they're just going to be able to accept that we're dead just because you stated it." Hermione replied, her eyes twinkling brightly.  
  
 Silence followed their statements and Draco and Hermione watched as their friends continued to scrutinise them. Right now, Draco wished that he could just pick up one of those glasses of champagne but experience told him that his hand would just go through it. What he wouldn't give for a glass of strong liquor right now.  
  
 "Draco?" Pansy looked at him more closely. "Is that really you?"  
  
 "In the flesh." His eyebrows became furrowed. "Or not. Rather more like in the spiritual form."  
  
 "Metaphysical?" Hermione asked.  
  
 "Probably. Who knows how this shit is meant to work anyway." He shrugged.  
  
 "Draco?" This time Blaise choked out the words, staring at his best friend in complete and utter disbelief.  
  
 "Yes. For god's sake, can you say something other than my name? I know I'm popular and all but it's not exactly great for making conversation." Sarcasm leaked into his voice and Pansy rushed forward with a strangled cry, only to fall right through him.  
  
 She looked up at him in horror.  
  
 Draco looked down at her in some sort of morbid amusement.  
  
 "Technically we are dead." Hermione decided to point out. "See, we're floating." She pointed down to the couple of centimetres beneath her feet.  
  
 "But how-? Why-?" Ron spluttered and Hermione smiled sadly at him.  
  
 "You're not letting us move on. You're keeping us here." She said softly. "Draco and I discovered, or at least hoped, that we would be able to become visible on All Hallow's Eve so that we can tell you to let us go."  
  
 "We don't have much time left." Draco looked at the clock. There were only a couple of minutes until sunrise and then the night would be over and they would go back to being invisible.  
  
 "We just wanted to say a couple of things to you lot." Hermione swallowed and then smiled gently. This was going to be the hardest part of the night. "Thank you for mourning us properly, for grieving. We led a great life-" "Although it was unfortunately rather short." Hermione shot him a look, "and it was wonderful to see that so many people cared for us." Her hand became entwined with Draco's.  
  
 "We also wanted to say well done for all that you have achieved in the past few years, you've done some truly great stuff." Draco nodded at everyone present.  
  
 "And we want to also wish you the best of luck for the future, we'll be watching from the sidelines to make sure you don't do anything too stupid." Hermione grinned.  
  
 "But you also need to move on." Draco said, his expression becoming grimmer. "You lot are stuck reminiscing about the past and often missing great opportunities for the future. You need to stop doing that. You are literally tethering us to this world and we need you all to let us go."  
  
 "We also wanted to say thank you to you all for being such amazing friends, for being the best people that we could have met. Thank you." Hermione nodded at them, tears forming in her eyes. They were getting the chance to finally say farewell too, something that they hadn't had the chance to do the first time around. Draco also nodded at them and Hermione could see that his sentiments had reached Blaise and Pansy.  
  
 "Tell my mother that I love her and that I'm sorry for leaving so soon." He said quietly and Hermione gripped his hand even tighter. She would never get this chance. The spell she had put on her parents wasn't and couldn't reversed. Thankfully. Harry and Ron had also decided that it wouldn't be fair to give them back their memories only for them to find out that their daughter had died. She was extremely grateful for them making that decision.  
  
 "Bye." Blaise's voice became choked and Pansy started to cry. Ginny's tears were already streaming down her face and neither Ron nor Harry looked like they know what to say. Luna looked at them sadly, as if she always knew that this day would come.  
  
 As the sunlight comes up over the horizon, Hermione and Draco faded away and the six of them were left to stare at nothing but empty space.  
  
 "Come on, let's go home." Harry finally said quietly after they had spent the next half an hour staring at the spot that their friends had stood not moments before and they all nodded, apparating away.  
  
 It had been a long night.  
  


~.~.~.~.~  


  
 "Daddy, why do we come here?" A small voice piped up and Blaise looked down at his son and chuckled at his bored expression.  
  
 "We're here to visit some old friends." He told him and Luna's tinkling laugh reached their ears. Blaise looked over fondly at his wife and she smiled at him in return. They both knew that it woud be a long time before their son understood the significance of visiting graves.  
  
 "Hey Draco. Hermione." He crouched down in front of the two graves as his son ran off to go and inspect the beautiful flowers that were growing near the bushes at the side. "Luna and I came to say 'hi'. We brought Lysander along as well, but he's still a bit too young to really understand why we come here." He smiled fondly at the graves while Luna's hand rested on his shoulder. "We just wanted to tell you that Pansy gave birth to the twins and that all three of them are in good health. Ron's so proud of them all, although it was hilarious to watch Fred remind him that one day Rose and Hermione are going to be beautiful women and be bringing home boys. I think that nearly sent him into some sort of shock. Hugo's loving the two of them already though, unlike our own who doesn't really want to meet his baby brother." He looked up at Luna and she rubbed her stomach absent-mindedly.  
  
 "Harry and Gin are doing well too, little Lily Luna's due next month but I'm sure that they'll also pop by before the day is up. I hope that you two are doing well." He got back up and Luna entwined their hands.  
  
 They stood there for a couple more minutes, remembering how shaken up they were six years ago when Hermione and Draco appeared and then vanished and how they slowly, and not without pain, began to move on after that.  
  
 They haven't seen them since, but somehow, Blaise thinks, that means that the two of them have finally managed to move on too.  
  
 "Lysander Draconis Zabini, don't even try to eat those flowers." Luna's voice admonished their son and Blaise threw one last look at the two graves with their own flowers in front of them and smiled as he went over to where his wife was telling off his son.  
  
Luna smiled.   
    
In the distance, a small bird chirped in surprise.


End file.
